Educational device



June 29, 1954 c. P. RUTZ 2,682,119

EDUCATIONAL DEVICE Filed May 27, 1952 CHU@ EMM

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Patented June 29, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDUCATIONAL DEVICE Charles P. Rutz, Emporium, Pa.

Application May 27, 1952, Serial No. 290,235

2 Claims.

1 This invention relates to educational devices and more particularly to an educational device having movable blocks or buttons carrying words vor letters and adapted to be arranged in groups formingsentences or words.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved educational device having spaced apart and substantially parallel flat faces one of which is provided on its outer surface with a slate or blackboard finish and the other of which is provided with slots forming trackways, and blocks or buttons movable along the trackways and carrying words or letters to form sentences or words when the buttons are appropriately grouped; which has its button carrying face formed in two parts with one part removable and reversible to expose related ends of the buttons for use; which may be used with either face uppermost depending on whether it is desired to use the blackboard surface or the buttons; and which is simple and durable in construction, economical to manufacture, and neat and attractive in appearance.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of an educational device illustrative of the invention;

Figure 2 is a transverse cross sectional view on the line 2 2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary bottom plan view with a portion broken away to better illustrate the construction of the device; and

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of a button constituting an operative component of the device.

With continued reference to the drawing, the device has a frame, generally indicated at Ill, of rectangular shape including top and bottom rails Il and l2 and end rails I3 and I4. The frame rails are rabbetted out along their inner edges at one side of the frame to provide grooves of rectangular shape, as indicated at l5 for the top rail l I, extending one along each rail of the frame and together providing a recess of rectangular shape within the frame at one side of the latter.

A fiat back panel i6 marginally overlaps the frame rails at the side of the frame remote from the recesses I 5 and is permanently secured to the frame at the corresponding side of the latter. This back panel is of rectangular shape and of the same size as the frame and is provided on its outer surface with a covering or coating I1 fur- 2 nishing a slate or blackboard finish to the outer surface of the back panel.

A flat front panel or face member IB is disposed within the recess in the frame and marginally against the shoulder provided at the inner side of this recess. This front panel is also of rectangular shape and is of the same size as the recessed portion of the frame and is provided in two separate parts, as indicated at I9 and 20, the adjacent or abutting edges of which meet along a line 2l which extends longitudinally of the frame substantially midway between and parallel to the top and bottom rails Il and l2. The top portion I9 of the front panel is permanently secured in the frame as by being glued or cemented to the portions of the frame rails which it marginally engages and the lower portion 2i) is detachably mounted in the frame as by having its edges engaging the frame convexly rounded and frictionally engaging in shallow grooves, as indicated at 22, provided within the recessed portion of the frame so that the lower portion 20 of the front panel I8 can be removed from the frame and inverted, for a purpose which will later be described. The lower portion 20 of the front panel is provided with holes 23 and 24 disposed one within each lower corner thereof to provide finger openings for removing this portion of the front panel from the frame.

The upper portion l of the front panel is provided with a plurality of straight slots 25 which extend longitudinally of the portion I 9 from a location adjacent one end to a location adjacent the other end of this panel portion in spaced apart and substantially parallel relationship to each other and in substantially parallel relationship to the top rail l I of the frame. A slot 26 extends perpendicular to the slots 25 across the ends of the latter adjacent one end of the panel portion I9 from the slot 25 nearest the top rail l i to the edge of the panel portion -l 9 remote from the top rail and the edge of the panel portion I9 remote from the top rail is recessed to provide a slot 2l' which extends longitudinally of the panel portion I9 from the corresponding end of the slot 26 to a location adjacent the opposite end of the panel portion.

The removable panel portion 2li is provided with slots 2% which extend perpendicularly from the slot 21 at uniformly spaced apart locations along the latter to locations adjacent to but spaced from the bottom rail I2 of the device and short slots or stub slots 29 extend perpendicularly from each of the slots 28 at each side of each slot 28 and at uniformly spaced apart locations therealong, the ends of stub slots 29 extending from two adjacent slots 28 into the space between such two adjacent slots 28 being uniformly spaced apart, as illustrated in Figure 1.

There are a large number of the stub slots 29, sixty such stub slots being provided in the device illustrated and blocks or buttons, as generally indicated at 30, are removably disposed one in each of the stub slots 29.

Each of the buttons 30, as shown in Figure 4, comprises two flat blocks 3| and 32 of rectangular and preferably square shape, disposed in spaced apart and parallel relationship to each other and a dowel 33 secured at its ends in apertures or wells, as indicated at 34, disposed one in each of the blocks 3| and 32 centrally thereof and providing a neck portion of reduced diameter between the two blocks. The portion of the dowel 33 between the adjacent faces of the blocks 3| and 32 has a length substantially equal to the thickness of the front panel I8 of the device and the buttons are disposed with this intermediate portion of the dowel in a slot in the front panel and the blocks 3| and 32 disposed one at each opposite side or face of the front panel. Each button 30 has a word, as indicated at 35 in Figure l, on one end face thereof and a letter, number or symbol, as indicated at 36 in Figure 3 on the other end surface thereof, the words being all disposed at one side of the lower portion of the front panel and the letters, numbers and symbols being disposed at the other side of this panel portion 20.

The blocks 3| and 32 constituting the enlarged end portions of each button 30 bear at their inner surfaces on the corresponding surface of the front panel member t8 and these blocks are bevcled along the edges of their inner or mutually opposed surfaces, as indicated at 37, to facilitate the sliding of the buttons along the slots in the front panel portions |9 and 20.

The slots 25, 26, 21, 28 and 29 are all interconnected and provide trackways in the front panel of the device and the blocks are movable from the stub slots 29 through the branch slots 28 and along the main slots 2 and 26 to the ends of the line slots adjacent the slot 26 and then along the line slots to groups, as illustrated in Figure 1, in which the words or letters on the ends of the buttons form sentences or words.

If it is desired to use the latters, numbers and symbols, rather than the words, as illustrated in Figure l, the lower portion 20 of the front panel is removed from the frame and inverted from its position illustrated in Figure l, whereupon the letters, numbers and symbols will be at the outer side of the front panel. In either position of the lower portion 29 of the front panel the buttons can be moved along the slots out of and back into the stub slots 29 and into and out of the line slots 25, as may be desired.

The rabbets l5 in the side and end rails of the frame are deeper than the thickness of the front panel i8 of the device by the thickness of the blocks 3| and 32 forming the ends of the buttons 3@ so that the outer ends of the buttons will be substantially flush with the outer or front edge of the frame at all times.

The device may be formed of any suitable, flat material but Wood or synthetic resin plastic or a combination of wood and plastic are recommended as providing the most satisfactory results and the most attractive appearance for the device.

Studs or projections 38 are secured to the back panel I6 of the device and project from the inner Side of the back panel at locations spaced slightly inwardly of and spaced uniformly apart along the edge of the lower portion 20 of the front panel remote from the bottom rail |2 of the frame to support the corresponding edge of the panel portion 20 in properly spaced relationship to the inner surface of the back panel i6. These studs are spaced apart so that they do not interfere with the movement of the buttons 30 along the trackway slots 29, 28 and 21.

The invention may be embodied in other specic forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

l. An educational device comprising a frame of rectangular shape, a back panel of rectangular shape marginally secured to said frame at one side of the latter, a front panel marginally secured to said frame at the other side of the latter and rnedially divided into an upper panel portion permanently secured to the frame and a lower panel portion which is detachably secured in the frame and can be removed from the frame, inverted and replaced in the frame, said front panel having interconnected slots in both portions thereof with the slots interconnected from one portion to the other, and buttons each having head portions disposed at respectively opposite sides of said front panel and an intermediate portion of reduced thickness received in and movable along said slots, said buttons each having legible characters on the end surfaces thereof and the slots in said lower portion of said front panel being of sufficient extent to receive all of said buttons.

2. An educational device comprising a frame of rectangular shape, a back panel of rectangular shape marginally secured to said frame at one side of the latter, a front panel marginally secured to said frame at the other side of the latter and medially divided into an upper panel portion permanently secured to the frame and a lower panel portion which is detachably secured in the frame and can be removed from the frame, inverted and replaced in the frame, said front panel having interconnected slots in both portions thereof, and buttons each having head portions disposed at respectively opposite sides of said front panel and an intermediate portion of reduced thickness received in and movable along said slots, said buttons each having legible characters on the end surfaces thereof, the slots in said upper panel portion comprising line slots extending from locations adjacent one end to locations adjacent the other end of said upper portion in spaced apart and substantially parallel relationship to each other and to the top side of said frame, a slot extending along the edge of said upper panel portion adjacent said lower panel portion and a slot extending perpendicularly across the ends of the above-mentioned slots adjacent one end of said upper panel portion, and the slots in said lower panel portion comprising branch slots extending perpendicularly from the slot along the edge of said upper panel portion adjacent said lower panel portion at uniformly spaced apart loca- References Cited in the file of this patent tions therealong to locations spaced from tlie UNITED STATES PATENTS edge of sald lower panel portlon remote from sald Number Name Date upper portion, and stub slots projecting perpendicularly from each side of each branch slot in 5 1 6901664 Proctor Jan- 7 1902 uniformly spaced apart locations therealong and lggg io s? said line slots provide grouping spaces therefor. 

